DC103
Group: Members
Posts: 12
Joined: Sep. 2006 |
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Posted: Nov. 05 2006,13:29 |
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Hi all, I have been poking around on my SanDisk 1.0GB U3 Micro trying to figure out how it is set up and if it might be possible to make it DSL bootable. Because I don't fully understand how the U3 system works yet I really do not want to format the stick. It has lots of U3 programs on it already as well as standard non U3 portable Win 2000/XP programs and it even has a working embbeded DSL that runs inside of Win 2000. I have the new Launchpad version 1,2,0,9 on it and this update allows the stick to be inserted in a Win box without auto starting the Launchpad. Instead I can go directly to drive F: and it looks just like a standard stick.
I could not resist sticking it into my Linux box to check it out in more detail. When I do SUSE 10.1 thinks it is a CD, interesting. I clicked on do nothing then ran some commands:
linux-xiwa:~ # umount /dev/sda1
linux-xiwa:/media/usbdisk # cfdisk /dev/sda
cfdisk 2.12r
Disk Drive: /dev/sda
Size: 1021125120 bytes, 1021 MB
Heads: 32 Sectors per Track: 63 Cylinders: 989
Name Flags Part Type FS Type [Label] Size (MB)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pri/Log Free Space 0.13*
sda1 Primary FAT16 [NO NAME ] 1020.72*
[Bootable] [ Delete ] [ Help ] [Maximize] [ Print ]
[ Quit ] [ Type ] [ Units ] [ Write ]
Toggle bootable flag of the current partition
Remounted it and fround where the program files are:
linux-xiwa:/media/usbdisk/System/Apps # ls -l
total 256
drwxr-xr-x 4 dc root 16384 2006-05-24 13:43 0DE4F643-C398-46ec-9339-2362F2311932
drwxr-xr-x 4 dc root 16384 2006-10-28 15:11 1039E4D2-DE56-4bd2-B564-7D178F5DF6F0
linux-xiwa:/media/usbdisk/System/Apps # cd FEFECB84-0E05-42d8-B044-F2D0FCFF8C15
linux-xiwa:/media/usbdisk/System/Apps/FEFECB84-0E05-42d8-B044-F2D0FCFF8C15 # ls -l
total 8096
drwxr-xr-x 3 dc root 16384 2006-10-28 15:08 Data
drwxr-xr-x 4 dc root 16384 2006-10-28 15:08 Exec
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dc root 8251153 2006-10-28 15:08 thunderbird_u3_1.5.0.42_en-us.u3p
The standard portable programs are in there own directory at:
# cd /media/usbdisk
linux-xiwa:/media/usbdisk # ls -l
total 2992
drwxr-xr-x 5 dc root 16384 2006-10-28 16:05 7-ZipPortable
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dc root 110 2006-05-27 18:17 boot.msg
drwxr-xr-x 8 dc root 16384 2006-05-24 13:43 Documents
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dc root 226 2006-05-27 18:17 dsl-linux.sh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dc root 364 2006-05-27 18:17 dsl-windows.bat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dc root 1592 2006-05-27 18:17 f2
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dc root 1595 2006-05-27 18:17 f3
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dc root 256 2006-05-27 18:17 german.kbd
drwxr-xr-x 5 dc root 16384 2006-11-03 06:38 GIMPPortable
drwxr-xr-x 2 dc root 16384 2006-05-27 18:17 knoppix
-r-xr-xr-x 1 dc root 950272 2006-04-18 16:33 LaunchU3.exe
-r-xr-xr-x 1 dc root 994807 2006-05-27 18:17 linux24
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dc root 36649 2006-05-27 18:17 logo.16
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dc root 801359 2006-05-27 18:17 minirt24.gz
drwxr-xr-x 5 dc root 16384 2006-11-03 06:35 NVUPortable
drwxr-xr-x 3 dc root 16384 2006-05-27 18:17 qemu
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dc root 468 2006-05-27 18:17 qemu-linux-notes.txt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dc root 1965 2006-05-27 18:17 readme.txt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dc root 2075 2006-05-27 18:17 syslinux.cfg
drwxr-xr-x 3 dc root 16384 2006-05-24 13:43 System
I found the fact that the drive is already formated as FAT16.
Thinking all it might take to make it bootable is:
# syslinux -s /dev/sda1
Should I go for it? Any idea what the free space size 0.13 MB is for?
Exploring this U3 stick sure was fun, I can't help my self I just have to hack on it ;-)
DC
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